Wheel balance weight



May 28, 1940.

E. w. TURNER 2,202,129 WHEEL BALANCE WEIGHT Filed Aug. 13, 1958 HZZOT-ngs Patenterl May 28, 1940 WHEEL BALANCE WEIGHT Earl W. Turner, Kokomo, Ind., assignor of onethird to himself; one-third to Ellen E. Turner, one-sixth to Earl W. Turner, trustee for John E. Turner, one-sixth to Earl W. Turner, trustee for Helen 0. Tumor Application August 13,

2 Claims.

1938, Serial No. 224,697

This invention relates to wheel balancing weights, the purpose of which is to place vehicle wheels, particularly on automobiles and the like, in running balance.

present form with a number of openings through which the metal may be flowed to secure good anchorage on the foot. The metal I2 is shaped to conform to the under side of the tire rim I3 5 The trend of modern motor car design, plus along the underneath portion of the'outwardly 5 increased speeds, small wheel diameters, and turned flange. The upper loop of the clip I0 is smooth pavements, make it'necessary that wheel formed to fit around the flange M, as indicated assemblies be in perfect balance. A wheel one in Fig. 3, and the free end is carried down on ounce out of balance may develop a pounding the inner side of the flange M a sufficient disforce of approximately twelve pounds at sixty tance as will permit the tire casing to bear 10 miles an hour. This great force tends to set up thereagainst and tend to force the clip into coma condition commonly termed tramp" which pressive contact with the tire rim flange I4. makes it rather diflicult as well as dangerous to This clip Ill, in one form of production, is control cars having wheels in such unbalanced made from a flat strip of steel by progressive l5 condition when traveling at the high speeds operations through a punch and forming press. causing rapid and uneven tire wear. One of the operations consists in punching the Reference is made to the U.'S. Letters Patent clip to form one or more depressions I6 in a No. 2,029,561 granted to Du SangFebruary 4, manner which will force the metal-from the 1936, which shows a wheel balance weight of the other side downwardly into sharp conical deype herein referred to. I tents l'l, suitable dies being formed to shape the 90 A primary object of the present invention is detents. After the clip is finally formed, it is to provide positive means for retaining the baltempered to give it the desired resiliency as well ance weight positively in position by simply ho'okas hardness, and, therefore, these detents being ing a spring clip over the flange of the tire rim. relatively small and extending but a slight dis- Traveling at high speeds, it is very necessary tance from the surface of the clip become quite .5 to be assured that such balance weights will not hard, at least being considerably harder than fly off the tire rim. 7 the tire rim flange.

, One particular form of the invention is herein The balance weight is applied to the tire rim shown and described in reference to the accoml3 by hooking the open part of the clip over the panyingdrawing, in whichflange l4 and then driving it thereover to seat 3 Fig. 1 is a top perspective view of a balance it against thelip of the flange to the position weight embodying the invention; as indicated in Fig. 3. The detents I! will bite Fig.2, a top plan view of the weight applied into the metal of the rim and finally become t a seated therein under the influence of the pres- Fig. 3, a transverse section on the line 33 in sure exerted by the tire casing l5 continually 3;

Fig. 2; and v pushing against the clip.

Fig. 4, a longitudinal section on the line 44 The clip I0 is further formed, as indicated in in 3- Fig. 4, to have the free end curved longitudinally Like characters of reference indicate like parts and transversely to meet the curvature of the tire 40 throughout the several views-in the drawing. rim flange [4 so as to bring that part of the clip 0 A metal spring clip [0 is formed to be roughly carrying the detents ll around into close align- S-shaped, the lower loop of.the clip being suitment and contact with the inside of the tire rim ably turned and designated as' a foot H to be flange M. The clip, of course, has to be bent anchored in any suitable manner in a mass of along straight lines in forming the outer loop- 5 metal I 2 of the desired weight. The exact na-' which engages the lip of the flange H, but the ture of this metal I2 is not a critical part of the free end of the clip is formed, as indicated in invention, although it is desirable to employ one Fig. 4, to follow the contour of the rim flange. of the heavy metals suchas lead or an alloy The form of the invention as above described or mixture containing a considerable proportion has been extremely successful in actual comof lead, zinc, or die cast metalin order that the mercial usage and has solved a problem which 50 weight may be concentrated within a relatively has heretofore not been met. It has-been the small volume. practice heretofore when using means to secure In the present form of the invention illusthe balance weights in position to' employ set trated, this metal I2 is formed, molded or diescrews but set screws may work loose,or, which cast about the foot I! which is provided in the is worse, tend to prythe weights outwardly away diameter and corresponding extension.

The detents ll are preferably 'used, one near each outer corner of the free end of the clip, as indicated in Fig. 1, and the clip end is further beveled so as to eliminate any tendency of the tire casing !5 to lift or push the clip outwardly. On small sized clips, one detent centrally located is sufficient.

While the description above given has referred to the use of the detents ll, it is also within the scope of the invention to employ barbs l8 pressed out of the clip before hardening, as indicated in Figs. 13. These barbs may be used alone or in conjunction with the detents and the number of barbs used will depend upon the' width of the clip l0 which in turn depends upon the size of the weight employed. It is to be understood, of course, that balance weights of the type herein indicated are made in a range of individual weights so as to take care of the particular degree of unbalance encountered.

While I have herein shown and described my invention in the onebest form as now known to me, it is obvious that structural variations may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention, and I, therefore, do not desire to be limited to that precise form beyond the limitations as may be imposed by the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a Wheel balance weight for engagement over the edge of a tire rim, the combination of a weight, a spring clip carrying the weight up against the outside of the rim and extending over the lip oithe rim down inside thereof in yielding compressive engagement with both sides of the rim, the free end of the clip on the inside of the rim being curved longitudinally and transversely to conform to the rim curvature, said clip having a member near each corner of said end extending integrally from the clip against the rim, said member being shaped to bite into the rim under pressure exerted by the clip and further aided by pressure against the clip exerted by the tire carried by the rim.

2. In a wheel balance weight for engagement over the'edge of a tire rim, the combination of a weight, a spring clip carrying the weight up against the outside of the rim and extending over the edge of the rim down inside thereof inyielding compressive engagement with the rim, the free end of the clip on the inside of the rim being curved both longitudinally and transversely to conform closely to the rim curvature, and a substantially conical member extending integrally and normally from said clip near each corner of said end to bite into the material of the rim under pressure exerted both by the clip and by the tire carried by the rim.

EARL W. TURNER. 

